Sin Chew Daily received an email from a Malaysian seeking help after discovering that he was duped by fake job offers to work at a scam call center in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

The helpless Malaysian sent an email to Sin Chew Daily as he was one of the many held captive by the syndicate operated by Chinese nationals in Cambodia.

This is a case of many other Malaysians duped by a recruitment advertisement posted on social media for work at a casino in Cambodia offering lucrative salaries.

In reality, it is a modern version of human trafficking syndicate forcing people to scam investors.

Working with the Malaysian police, Sin Chew Dailly collected the names of victims through the emails and handed them to the Cambodian police through the Interpol for their rescue.

Sin Chew Daily published a compilation of 143 emails between a Sin Chew reporter and the Malaysian Loo (not his real name) in one month to trace other Malaysians trapped by the syndicate and the exact location of the building to be handed over the police.

The modus operandi of the syndicate operating as a scam call center to deceive investors was also exposed along the way.

Manned by security officers, the scam call center was located inside a 15-storey building with restaurants, massage parlor, brothel, hostel, supermarket, canteen, clinic, salon, casino, gymnasium, snooker center and a sky bar in a technology park in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

About 600 people were living inside the building with at least 40 security staff equipped with pistols, electric rods and batons.

Loo spent time convincing some Malaysians to hand over their details to the police.

Guided by the reporter, Loo also shared the location of the building on Google Maps in order to provide the exact location to the police.

After submitting a list of 15 names to the Malaysian police, the list was then forwarded to Cambodia through the Interpol.

The process of rescuing trapped Malaysians was dangerous and risky as they worked in different departments and did not trust one another.

Loo was once beaten by the syndicate suspected of leaking information. Together with other Malaysians, he was also almost “sold” by the syndicate to another scam group.

Even after they were rescued by the Cambodian police, a photo sent by Loo to the reporter to be forwarded to the police was leaked to the syndicate. The syndicate was trying to trace the culprit by paying a visit to the police station.

Letter from a victim

Dear reporter,
I am a Malaysian who has been duped to work in Cambodia.
About 40 of Malaysians were deceived to work as scammers here.
We had been recommended by friends to work at a casino in Cambodia, but after we arrived here, we were told to work as scammers.
We tried to contact the embassy (of Malaysia) but were told they had no enforcement power. They told us to seek help from the police.
We tried to contact the mayor of Sihanoukville through his Facebook. He gave us a phone number to contact the police.
We contacted the police but were told to pay US$5,000 per head for the rescue
We have been duped into working here, how do we have the money?
Our passports have been taken away from us!
Basically, it is an unpaid job. If we fail to meet their target, we will be punished by being locked inside a dark room or hit by an electric rod.
In fact, we have no one to turn to.
We hope you can give us some suggestions. We are running out of ideas already.
Until now we have not been able to deceive anyone.
We can understand if you do not wish to get involved.
You are our last hope. At least when I send you this email, I hope others will not be following in our footsteps.
Cambodia is a country full of darkness.
Thank you.
A helpless Malaysian